Shimmed device



, H. A. PERKINS SHIMMED DEVICE Original Filed Aug. 51, 1940 EN TOR. fuarf Z. Perk/115 A? 3 Sheets-Sheet l de/e/neP HaZ/Ian a Hiram A. Ber/Pins, Damaged INV ' A TTORNEY Nova 25, 1947. H. A. PERKINS SHIMMED DEVICE Original Filed Aug. 51. 1940 i a Sheets-Sheet 2 I l 4175 06690526], Hiram A P65 INVENTOR.

I Sfuarf Z. Perk/'12s M BY Madeleine PHa/fiaway fxecu fora I A TTORNE Y- H. A. PERKlNS SHIMMED DEVICE Nov. 25, 1947.

Original Filed Aug. 31, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 fJGfUHI/I Perkins, 096005841.

A TTORNE Y 9 w: R w OMfi I du N flHC E6 6 P x m i LM "a m a t 5 Patented Nov. 25, 1947 5.5.

Hiram A...Perkinsti dceased,{late tr Rochester,

N. Y., by

Stuart LIP erkins', executoyltochester, 1 N. Y., and Madeleine P. Hathaway, executrix, EssexGounty,jN .-;J., assigiiorsftd Setter Bros,

Ine. Catt'araugus, N. Y., 'a' corporationlof 'New York f original aspirate; August 3111546. soar No. v

I jfj35 4,94'5."11Diyided and this application May 9,

.. LQ L Q E 553%!7 :"The invention relates" toimprovements in shimmed devices' which are-of particular advan-: tage in machines or other dGVlCG S WhICh in use or production, require frequent precisi'onfchange's' inthe relations of their operative components;

The invention involves a specific construction permitting precision adjustments to be'made with loss of time; ma;

maximum facility and' minimum The" latter factor is important in production chines requiring a large number of the shimmed devices andnece'ss'itat'inga stoppage (or' outage) of the machinewhile the devices are uti lized to effect uniform precision adjustmentsfor corresponding chang'esin manufacture." Such a machine is shown in thew-pending U. S, patent application 354,945 (filed August 31, 19i0 and has matured into Patent No. 2,357,846 of which this application is a division,

Other objects cr -the invention, and its various structural features will be better understood'from the following description which refers to'the ac-- companying drawings-for adisclosure of the pre-" ferred embodiment of the invention. ra Fig. 1 is a plan of a machine in which. several of the-illustrative shimmed devices are employed;

Fig. 2-is mainly a vertical section- -throughone of the illustrative shimmed devices; Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the same-plan as Fig. 2 but illustrating the-manner in which the device automatically makes the shimspaces 'ac cessible for the removal or addition of shims when the tension bolts are loosened; V V

Fig. 4 is a detail view in the nature of atplanshowing the shim-construction and-the operative arrangement of the shims in the illustrative dea vices;

Fig. 5 is a detail View showinga portion of the illustrative device with a various thicknesses; I a

Figs. 6 and 6a are vertical sections through the F 1 machine, illustrating a movable upper presser plate construction which requires frequent precision adjustments relative to thefixed' lower plate, to providefor the productionof rodlike articles of difierent diameters;

Fig. 7 is a vertical section "throughth alhtopflofv the Fig. 1 machine showing the mannerihf Which the illustrated shimmed device is applied;

Fig. 8 is a detail vievvof the application ,Ofthe shimmed construction to a device for locking the .r team's.

plurality of shims of tion; and v H presser plate of the Fig. '7 construction in a desired 'fixed relationship to the lower plate construction; i F g. 9 is anend elevation of the Fig. 8 construcchanged when "rods of a different diameter are to be made. A i

- The presser'plate'construction is of consider-. able :length' and mass and, therefore, a large number of' illustrated shimmed devices are .employedto precisionally determine the diameter of the rods tobe produced,-by.uniforml changing the spacing of the presser plate from the fixed lower plate construction over the entire operative areas along which the rods are formed. The presser plate construction is indicated at H3, and is'shown in Figs. 1 and 10 to have along one side a' plurality of hinge constructions, each having a fixed part Msecured to the base plate construction it by ;the illustrative shimmed device.

.'At the opposite side of the presser plate It! and fixed relative thereto are a plurality of forks 20 extending laterally from the presser plate structure, and adapted, in operation, to rest upon the tops-of the upper extensions 22 and 24 of the base blocks 26;

The-base blocks as fixed to the base plate construction It and to the machine base 30 by tension members in the form of cap screws 32 and 34 which extend through the base blocks. and are screw'threaded into the machine base, asindicated in Figsrfl and 3.

- A pintle or hinge pin 36 extends through each pair of arms 22 and-24 toprovide for the rotat-. able mounting of a cam locking device 38, which looks the lower surfaces of the fork 2i! against the tops of the projections 22 and 24, as indicated in Fig. 8 of the drawings. This locking device partial perspective of the locking plate construction includes a lower block 40 rotatably mounted between the arms 22 and 24, and an upper block 42 adjustably secured to the lower block 40 by screw threaded connections, such as that shown at 44. The upper block 42 is adapted to pass between the arms of each fork 20 and it is straddled by a U-shaped cam block 48 rotatably mounted with respect to the block 42 by a pin or pintle 50. The pintle may be considered as directly supported by the block 42, or the arms of the fork 20.

Extending upwardly from the center of the block 48 and rigid therewith is a hand lever 52 which is adapted to be moved from the Fig. 8 dotted line position to the Fig. 8 full line position to lock the fork 20 against the tops of the projections 22 and 24 and thus hold the presser plate construction I so that its lower surface is at a distance from the upper surface of the carrier belt 54 determined by the number and thickness of the shims, such as those indicated at 60, 64 and 68 in Fig. 5.

The base plate members, such as and", have screw threaded openings for the reception of the threaded parts of the cap screws 32 and 34 and the marginal parts of the bedplate construction 'I'fi have aligned openings through which the cap screws pass.

As particularly indicated in Figs. --2 and -3 of the drawingsthe bedplate construction I6 has an opening between each pair of cap screws 32 and 34 for each shimmed device. In each of these openings there is a compression spring 80 normally compressed (as indicated in Fig.2) between the top of the machine base member I2 and the bottom of the member 26. Thus, when it is desired to produce medical applicators of a thickness .001 of an inch greater than those which have been previously manufactured, each member 26 of each 'shimmed device must be raised 1001 of an inch more above the base plate I6. This is done by loosening the cap screws 32 and 34 for each one of the various shimmed'devices employed. When these cap screws are loosened 26 is elevated automatically to a :position such as that shown in Fig. 3 to make the shim space instantly accessible. Then two of such shims, as thus shown in 82 and 34 of Fig. 4, 'are slipped in place around the cap screws 32 and '34 and the latter immediately tightened so as to secure the member 26 in its'desired relationship.

In the particular shim constructionshown, the shim 82 is formed with a slot 86 and a similar slot 88 is formed in the shim 84 so that the shims may be correctly positioned and easily slipped in place around the cap screws. In the reverse operation the shims can be as easily and readily removed. This particular shim construction, because it presents a shim body of the same "thickness on opposite sides of each cap screw, maintains a uniform spacing of such members as I6 and 26, over their opposite faces. With this construction the shims may be considered as strung along each cap screw such as 32 or 34, and the latter may therefore be appropriately considered as stringers,-o r stringer bolts.

As indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, there are 10 sets of the illustrative shimmed constructions applied to the heavy casting l0 which forms the main body of the presser plate construction. Thus it will be realized that considerable outage is avoided by the use of illustrative shimmed construction, in contrast, to prior art constructions which would require much longer time to make the change in the number of shims, at each position, and when; as many as ten separate adjustments are necessary before production can be resumed, the time saved by the pres- I ent invention is substantial. I

When it is further realized that the illustrative machine produces tens of thousands of rods per hour, the loss of production in an outage period of half an hour not only decreases the economic efficiency of the machine, but tends to increase the cost of the product by increasing cost of manufacture. The illustrative invention, in the machine shown, contributes to the ultimate in production costs and thus tends to reduce the price of the product to the ultimate consumer. I

The Fig. 1 machine includes a paper supply roll I00 which is rotated so as to continuously supply the Web I02 to paper feeding and cutting mechanism disposed adjacent the crimping rolls I04 and I06 and disposed at the position indicated generally at I08 in Fig. 1. Each severed strip of paper is crimped by the rolls I04I06 so that as it is stripped from the roll I06 by the teeth I01 it will be subject to the convoluting action of the carrier belt 54 moving in the direction of the arrows -I-I2 and I I4. Thus loosely wound rolls are formed as indicated in Figs. 6 and 6a at I20-I 21, and beyond that position, as the rolls become more tightly wound and more reduced in diameter, they begin to take on a rod-like construction in the stages indicated at I28-I35, inclusive, until they contact the cutters I40 as substantially solid rods. These cutters, act upon the rods to sever them into component rods of uniform lengths, the cutters being held in their operative positions by the cutter head I 50. More detailed description of these parts 'of the rod making machine and its operation will be found in the above identified co-pending application.

While, in conformance with the Federal Statutes, and particularly section 4888 R S., a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, it is to be appreciated that the invention is not limited to all of the details thereof, but it is rather of a scope commensurate with the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a production mechanism having two precisionally spaced units opposed surfaces of which frequently must be fixed at different spacings; the combination therewith, ofseveral shimmed looking devices including one or more metallic shims or spacers, each of said shims having an open ended slot extending inwardly from the perimeter of the shim, adjustable screw-threaded rod-like tension members normally extending through the inner portions of the shim slots and binding the shims tightly between one of said units and parts of the locking devices to fix the spacing of the units at a predetermined precisional value, and compression springs operatively disposed between the parts separated by the shims and normally under compression so as to automatically move at least one of said parts away from the other to present shim access space when the pressure on said shims is released and such movement permitted.

2. In a rod making machine having a fixed bedplate construction, a movable presser plate construction spaced above the bed-plate, and means for precisionally determining said plate construction spacing for determining the diameter of the rods; said means including locking devices normally fixed to the bed-plate construction along one side thereof and pivotal support devices hinging the plate constructions along the opposite side of the bed-plate construction, stringer bolts extending upwardly from said bed-plate construction and through parts of said locking devices and pivotal support devices, shims slotted from their periphery with the slots adapted to permit the shims to embrace the stringer bolts to maintain a desired number of the shims in alignment along each stringer, and compression springs seated between said parts and the bed-plate construction and normally tending to force said parts upwardly from the bed-plate construction when the grip of the bolts upon the shims is released, the upward movement of said parts making the shim space accessible so that shims may be quickly removed or replaced, said locking devices including locking elements coacting with said presser plate construction to precisionally lock the latter in its operative condition.

3. In combination with first and second units normally held in fixed relationship; a shimmed device for precisionally determining the spacing of at least parts of said units at a predetermined value; said shimmed device including stringer means, opposed abutment members constituting parts of said units presenting opposed surfaces spaced along the stringer means, a, plurality of shims normally tightly held in laminated body form along the stringer means and between said members to fix the distance between the units, the shims having open ended slots normally receiving the stringer means to maintain the shims in their operative relationships between said members even after the pressure on the shims has been released but permitting the removal of an individual shim without disturbing the operative relationship of the remaining shims, means for precisionally adjusting at least one of said members lengthwise of the stringer to tightly grip the shims or release them, and an expansible resilient means normally acting to exert diverging forces upon said piembers to move them apart lengthwise of the stringer means when the adjusting means releases the shims, the stringer means joining said units even after the pressure on the shims is released and while a shim is being removed or another added.

STUART L. PERKINS, Executor of the Estate of Hiram A. Perkins, De-

ceased.

MADELEJNE P. HATHAWAY, Emecutrz'x of the Estate of Hiram A. Perkims, De-

ceased.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,694,758 Summers et al Dec. 11, 1928 1,564,758 Crawley Dec, 8, 1925 2,091,409 Lewis Aug. 31, 1937 

